Twisted Rail brewery set to open Sunday in Canandaigua

CANANDAIGUA — A new beer station will be opening this weekend in Canandaigua.

Twisted Rail Brewing Company — located at a former train depot — will open at 1 p.m. Sunday at 20 Pleasant St., just off of Main Street. The owners are ready to bring the public aboard the brew train.

“Bring it on,” said co-owner John McMullen, of Naples. He added that he’s feeling a mixture of excitement and nervousness for the opening of Canandaigua’s newest brewery.

The brewing company will be located in the same building as The Beehive Brew Pub, which opened this summer. Nathan Sirvent, of Mendon, will also own the brewery with John and his brother Mike McMullen, of Caledonia.

The trio fully embrace the railroad theme. The owners skipped over traditional taps for ones made with railroad spikes, and an actual rail is located below the bar as a footrest.

As for the product, Twisted Rail will start with a more traditional batch of beers, such as an India Pale Ale (IPA), John McMullen said. They are hoping to have a brew session next week where a few holiday-themed beverages are created, he added.

Twisted Rail does not have a menu; however, the facility is connected to the Beehive area.

The original plan was to open the brewery in October, but problems with the brewing equipment set that timeline back, John said. He explained that the vendor was experiencing some internal problems, and as a result only shipped half the equipment needed to make the beer. The Twisted Rail trio scrambled to get the equipment into a usable state, he said.

The Rail will be open 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. After the opening, the brewery will have operating hours from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. Eventually, the hours will be extended to 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, John said. He added they’re hoping to have the extended hours set by January.

“We’ve started off slow in terms of hours,” he said. “We’ll increase them as we get settled in.”